The present invention relates to a parking brake, in particular for a vehicle. The invention further relates to an immobilizing device, in particular for immobilizing a vehicle that has such a parking brake. In addition, the invention relates to a vehicle having a corresponding immobilizing device and to a method for immobilizing a vehicle.
Parking brakes are brakes that steadily block the wheels, in particular of a vehicle or an aircraft, when the vehicle or aircraft is at a standstill. Because the parking brake presented here is used mainly for vehicles, the following statements refer to vehicles. The parking brake is independent of the actual braking system of the vehicle and prevents the parked vehicle from beginning to roll in an uncontrolled way.
The parking brakes of vehicles are constructed in many cases as cable brakes with a hand or foot lever. In recent times, parking brakes have featured electrical drive motors which, depending on the construction, interact with the cable brakes and replace the hand or foot lever.
Disadvantages in known parking brakes are their relatively large spatial requirements and their associated great weight. The use of cables also requires relatively complicated mechanisms. In addition, the cables might tear or stretch, so that operational safety is not always guaranteed.
Parking brakes without cables are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,294 B2, European patent application Publication EP 2 532 915 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,506 B1, and German published patent application DE 10 2012 020 765 A1. These parking brakes also have a relatively great inherent weight and feature a relatively complex design that takes up space.